Monday, September 08, 2008

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27 kilometer (17 mile) long particle accelerator straddling the border of Switzerland and France, is nearly set to begin its first particle beam tests. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is preparing for its first small tests in early August, leading to a planned full-track test in September - and the first planned particle collisions before the end of the year. The final step before starting is the chilling of the entire collider to -271.25 C (-456.25 F). Here is a collection of photographs from CERN, showing various stages of completion of the LHC and several of its larger experiments (some over seven stories tall), over the past several years.

Im surprised Miguel has been so quiet round here, and didn't want to pitch in his 2 cents for this one :) in fact, no one even picked up on the REM song reference. come on people, what more important things are happening than tuning in here ... ahh I kid, I kid.

Updated September 15, 2008 - It was last week on Wednesday, September 10, 2008, near Geneva, Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) fired only a single beam of protons around the 17-mile-long underground circular tunnel - not two beams of protons hitting head-to-head near the speed of light.

Two reasons: First, LHC wanted to test hardware and magnets first. Second, shortly after the firing, computer hackers broke into the computers connected to the Compact Muon Solenoid Detector (CMSD) and left this message: “We're pulling your pants down because we don't want to see you running around naked looking to hide yourselves when the panic comes.”

Physicist Joseph Lykken heads the CMSD science team and told me today that the hackers themselves closed the “hacked doorway” through which they entered. Further, none of the computers controlling the actual LHC proton beam collisions have any connections to the outside world for precisely the reason to prevent hackers from interfering with such a powerful laboratory as the LHC.

Miguel put me onto this a few days ago, and im just throwing it out here quickly as a reminder for all and myself. obviously lately ive had a few things on my brain, but a current affairs still grip me to the core and issues surrounding 911, this new generation of false terrorism, global elites and the nitty gritty behind the headlines are what we need to be waking up to.

Think and read, investigate and make your own conclusions. this latest doco may be late on the horizon here for us Aussies who don't download alot, but the questions should be timeless, until we know the truth. check it out.

ABC 1 TVSeven years on, the destruction of New York's Twin Towers, played and replayed thousands of times over, is seared into collective memory.

A third skyscraper also fell that day. Unlike the Twin Towers, the 47-storey building known as Tower Seven was not hit by a fuel-laden plane, yet it collapsed neatly in 6.5 seconds.

The official explanation is that it was destroyed by fire. But in the seven years it has taken to present the final investigation report, suspicion has filled the information vacuum. Tower Seven has fed an industry of conspiracy theories that grew up around 9/11. Claims are pressed – by a phenomenally popular movie on the Internet and by supposedly credible "experts" – that someone in or close to the US Government brought the building down by controlled demolition.

How, among the many questions they ask, could Tower Seven be the first and only steel-framed skyscraper in the world to collapse due to fire? Why did the New York fire department not fight the fires? Why did it fall so symmetrically at freefall speed? Why did TV stations report that Tower Seven had collapsed before it had done so, when it was still clearly visibly behind reporters?

This BBC documentary explores some of these questions. In doing so it demonstrates how, when good information is scarce, or late, many people will believe the worst. 9/11: The Third Tower" – on Four Corners 8.30 pm Monday 8 September and 11.35 pm Tuesday 9 September (also 8am Tuesday on ABC2). Think for yourself.

Leg feels quite good, considering ive got a 50cm steel pin through it haha. today was probably the first time i could actually move round without a great deal of pain, or need for painkillers. so all in all i think a speedy recovery is on the cards towards October. and we all know what happens in October :)

I'm off again, this time to Melbourne for a day and then onwards to spend a week with family up in Bairnsdale, round the Eastern Gipsland, Lakes Entrance area. this little venture was promised and organised way before anything, even the world trip, so here i am saying "It's still on"! I'm heading over to visit my uncle and aunty (Mike and Gayle) who are fantastic people, owning and running their own bed and breakfast and local bookstore in the community. i share a great respect and friendship with my uncle who tends to think outside the square, and arrives at many subjects and conclusions i find most interesting. more than a relative, a good friend and confidant who has always been but a phone call away to support me and lend words of wisdom and comedic relief. we don't get over to see you as often as we all should Miguel, but if i can be the spark, the others will follow im sure.

So prepare yourself down there in Victoria, im coming back, and this time im bringing enough stories to keep the cows awake for many an hour. i can't say how much ive been looking forward to this for well over 18 months, and now seems the right time more than ever. for some period there, it was all i had left to look forward to, a goal to reach. and aint no bloody broken leg gonna stop me getting on a plane, i can assure you of that. hopefully i can walk by then, if not, you will just have to keep feeding me, and suppling the Corona :)

Thanks to all who helped organise this, and for the open welcome of staying there for a visit. i intend to pay this good will forward as soon as i can. take care all. ive included some shots of Melbourne and Bairnsdale town for the oversees viewers. adios.

Alot of you have been wondering where things have gotten to, how im doing and whats been happening of late. truth is, things have been rather dark and gloomy for the most part. a series of bad luck incidents and twists have really left me in a situation that at the start of the year, i tried so desperatly to avoid. planning it seems has kinda gone out the window.

So i've moved out from the Swan Valley, still planning to stay in Perth for a while as i now find my own feet again. the hardest thing about this scenario is that its come as another weight on parents shoulders which i feel extremly appologetic for. they have, and continue to support me in everyway and in anything i choose to do, and to have to reach out to them again is hard, and i can only thank them here, and in person, over and over again. it never goes un-noticed or un-appreciated. I hope someday I can repay this, or pay it forward.

Ive grabbed a few shots to wak on the blog of Perth, for the folks we met travelling in the states recently. thanks for all the emails guys, we must catch up again one day :)Flickr Pics

I tend to delve into all things "Right Brain". Using Graphic Design as a creative outlet and profession to stop myself from strapping my ass to a 100 foot Zeppelin, and circumnavigating the Earth.
G'day and Welcome. I like to think of this place out here in cyberspace as another form of communication and visual expression. My thoughts and activities will no doubt spill onto those screens in front of you with left of center zestyness. I hope each segment provides a little peak into another side. Post, Comment, for what is a blog in a web if no one communicates?
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